Welcome to Atom Tones – an investigation of atomic spectra through sound
Click on each element to hear its unique tone.
Clicking the image of the periodic chart below plays all of the elements that produce an observed spectrum for Z = 1 – 99.
Originally titled Atom Music, Atom Tones is a music synthesis based approach to the creation of sounds based solely on atomic spectra data. The spectral lines that are used to identify elements and molecules have been mapped into audible frequencies.
These are the individual element tones, produced with a decay. All tones were created using the spectral line frequencies which were then added together to create the element’s signature tone. An exponential decay was then applied to make the tone more pleasing to the ear. Numbers 85, 87 and 100 – 118 do not have observed spectra. We therefore cannot create tones associated with these.
Here is a link that shows how each tone was produced.
Atom Tones by Jill Linz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.